Road Trip

Roots
Roots are the foundations of something, where it comes from. We visited Fallingwater and Monticello and as we explored the houses it was apparent that both houses roots came from reflection on past architectural designs. When designing it is important to go back to the roots of all material you are planning to use and any design details that you want to incorporate. The reason for this is so that you know all you can about the design, this will impress your client and help you get the job. In the nineteenth century during the Eclecticism period “…the architectural building forms themselves were overwhelmingly determined by historical precedent. “(Roth 469) The Glass House created by Philip Johnson looked back to The Farnsworth House by Mies Van der Rohe for roots on glass houses and was greatly influenced by work.

Congruence
Congruence is an agreement between two or more things. In design it is necessary that everything you do be congruent with one another so that your design is unified. In Suzanne’s drawing class we are working on a graphic of either Monticello or Falling water. In these graphics we must choose a super graphic that will unify the drawings for mine I chose to do trees. Charles Francis Annesley Voysey’s house shows congruence between materials that made the end product work. “The walls were build of solid rubble stone, carefully dressed only at the windows and doors, with the broad surfaces covered with rough stucco painted white. The result was a traditional design rendered with abstract clarity.”(Roth 494)

Concept
A concept is an idea that you have. Concepts are especially important to design. Coming up with a concept is the first step in the design process. Often concepts are unique and give the viewer an abstract way of seeing the design. Often in history concepts were created for example “At the turn of the eighteenth century ,one new building type that appeared was the factory.” (Roth 486) The factory was a concept that was a turn in manual labor.


Materiality
Materials are important to any design project. Finding the right materials can enhance a design. It is important to explore materials to find the one that best suits your design. This week in studio we were given three materials and we had to do research on them to figure the cost, origin and uses of the material. We then made them into the 11X17 graphics shown below. In the nineteenth century “…there were epochal changes in the creation of new building types hat exploited new building materials…”(Roth 469) When Joseph Paxton created the Crystal Palace “…he created a transparent building without visual limits.”(Roth 487)

Compression: Release
Compression is when something is compacted. In history when a style was used for many buildings over a period of time this could be considered compression. When a new style comes and the old is no longer used as much this is release or letting go of a style. Often in design styles change and the idea of what looks good is drastically different. This would be an example of compression and relase.

Summary
This week has been about creating design and the process that is required. For every design you need to first come up with a concept or idea for your deign. Then you need to revisit the roots of architecture and design to see how you can create architecture done well. Finding materials that work well for your design is a very important step it will give you the bases for the project. In the end product there should be congruency so that the product is unified.